Jin Shanhai, Iwamoto Noriyasu, Hashimoto Kazunobu, Yamamoto Motoji
IEEE Trans Neural Syst Rehabil Eng. 2017 Aug;25(8):1192-1201. doi: 10.1109/TNSRE.2016.2613886. Epub 2016 Oct 12.
This paper presents a new soft wearable robotic suit for energy-efficient walking in daily activities for elderly persons. The presented robotic suit provides a small yet effective assistive force for hip flexion through winding belts that include elastic elements. In addition, it does not restrict the range of movement in the lower limbs. Moreover, its structure is simple and lightweight, and thus wearers can easily take the device on and off by themselves. Experimental results on nine elderly subjects (age = 74.23.7 years) show that the robotic suit worn and powered on (PON) significantly reduced energy expenditure by an average of 5.9 % compared with the condition of worn but powered off (POFF). Furthermore, compared with the POFF condition, there was a significant improvement in gait characteristics in the PON condition for all subjects.
本文提出了一种新型软质可穿戴机器人套装，用于老年人日常活动中的节能步行。所展示的机器人套装通过包含弹性元件的缠绕带为髋关节屈曲提供微小但有效的辅助力。此外，它不会限制下肢的活动范围。而且，其结构简单且轻便，因此穿戴者可以自己轻松地穿上和脱下该装置。对九名老年受试者（年龄 = 74.2±3.7岁）的实验结果表明，与穿戴但关闭电源（POFF）的情况相比，穿戴并开启电源（PON）的机器人套装显著降低了平均5.9%的能量消耗。此外，与POFF情况相比，所有受试者在PON情况下的步态特征都有显著改善。
